Singapore bank lending falls again in October

BANK lending in Singapore fell in October from the previous month, dragged by weaker business loans, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Monday. It reflected a deeper contraction than that in September.

Loans through the domestic banking unit - which essentially captures lending in all currencies but mainly reflects Singapore-dollar lending - stood at S$602 billion last month, down 1.1 per cent from September, the MAS figures showed.

In September, bank lending stood at S$608 billion, down 0.8 per cent from August.

Business loans in October fell 1.9 per cent to S$360 billion from September. A month ago, it fell 1.6 per cent.

Growth in consumer lending was up 0.2 per cent at S$241 billion in October from a month ago. This was the same pace of growth seen in September.

From a year ago, bank lending in October fell 0.4 per cent. This compared to the 0.6 per cent year-on-year gain posted in September.